The Swiss Family Griswold ventured up to Figueroa Mountain for a Sunday picnic. It’s my first time up the mountain this spring wildflower season. I didn’t expect that there would be much color showing this early, but there was a little.

The usual spots had a few flowers, but not much. Grass Mountain had a hint of orange on its steep slope, and the junction of Catway Road and Figueroa Mountain Road had a fair amount. But it was relatively sparse and some of the other bloom areas had next to nothing. The orange wallflowers right now, however, were pretty much in full bloom along the road up the mountain, as seen here last year.

A number of scrub oaks had sprouted three to four inches of fresh new growth in the preceding weeks, but it was crispy and dead from the cold snap back in March. Which no doubt slowed the growth of the wildflowers and set back the bloom cycle a bit too. We need some clear skied warm weather to really get the flowers popping. Somebody was having fun on a glider ride soaring back and forth overhead.

A faint tinge of orange on Grass Mountain.

Were a bit camera shy, but this is where we set up shop, on a ridgeline beneath a pine tree.